Counter-fraud

The UK is fast becoming a global hotspot for online fraud, which is having a devastating impact on both businesses and the economy.

New research from fraud prevention platform Ravelin shows online fraud is increasing globally but has grown more in the UK in the last 12 months than any of the ten countries surveyed, including France, Germany, Italy, America, Brazil, Australia, and Mexico.

According to figures from UK Finance, the UK trade association for banking and financial services, losses to fraud in the past year exceeded £1billion, equating to £2,300 stolen every minute. More must be done to stop this. As a result, Which?, the consumer choice advisor, has recommended the next Prime Minister appoint a dedicated fraud minister.

https://thefintechtimes.com/which-recommends-a-fraud-minister-to-tackle-40-of-uk-crime-fraud/

When an international teenage fraudster from Aberdeen saw his audacious life of crime come crashing down, he felt a strange sense of relief.

Elliot Castro who had nicked millions to fly first class around the world, stay in the best hotels, spend big in Beverly Hills and party with U2’s Bono had simply had enough.

The latest fraud threatening the UK could cost businesses at least £4.2billion if appropriate steps are not taken, new research from LexisNexis Risk Solutions shows.

A new study looked at over 72million consumer profiles and found 2.8million showing several signs of 'Frankenstein cloning', where fraudsters stitch real and made-up personal details together to create a 'new' synthetic identity to spoof credit checks and commit high-value fraud against banks and credit providers.

https://mondovisione.com/media-and-resources/news/three-million-frankenstein-identities-pose-a-multi-billion-pound-fraud-threat/

Schroders has been subject to various instances of scams and attempted frauds executed by impersonating Schroder business and/or offering counterfeit investment products which are not sold or marketed by any of the Schroders Group, including Schroders Investment Management.

If you are concerned you are being sold a fraudulent product, please contact us before investing.

MPs bemoan continued "lack of cross-government leadership" and the varying approaches of departments.

The Cabinet Office has been urged to be more proactive in creating a civil service culture that supports officials who raise concerns – including a call to conduct spot checks on departmental data.

https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/civil-service-whistleblowing-pac-report-speak-up-environment

The clock is ticking for businesses across Scotland and the UK to review their fraud prevention procedures.

Sweeping reforms to the attribution of corporate criminal liability for fraud and other economic crimes are already in force. Previously, companies could only be prosecuted for fraud if the directing mind – such as the CEO or managing director – was directly involved. But the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 overhauled rules around corporate criminal liability.

House purchases could be severely disrupted by new rules designed to protect against fraud, experts have warned.

In an effort to detect “Authorised Push Payment” (APP) fraud, banks will be able to stop payments that they have flagged as suspicious for up to four days under incoming rule changes.

Joshua Reddaway from the NAO's Fraud & Propriety team explores the challenge of fraud, error and abuse in net-zero and environmental initiatives.

Green initiatives are certainly susceptible to fraud. This is partly because governments are spending more on them. We all know fraudsters are opportunistic and will follow money, wherever it goes. They also tend to like the sort of payments associated with green initiatives – grants you apply for, incentive payments and tax reliefs. And because environmental impacts can be harder to define, environmental benefits can be purposefully overstated and negative impacts understated.

https://www.civilserviceworld.com/in-depth/article/green-fraud-tackling-abuse-environmental-schemes-nao

Over many years UK banks have made significant investment into fraud prevention measures to help control traditional types of fraud.

This includes frauds where criminals execute unauthorised transactions on a victim’s account, as well as automated attempts to extort funds such as malware attacks.

https://www.ftadviser.com/regulation/2024/05/09/scams-how-are-they-changing-and-how-can-social-media-help/